Oana Lungescu

NATO Spokesperson2010

Oana Lungescu is the principal Spokesperson for the North Atlantic Alliance, providing strategic advice to the NATO Secretary General, the North Atlantic Council, commands and NATO offices on press, media and social media. She coordinates NATO’s 24/7 media operations, as well as planning and directing the media aspects of all major NATO events, including Summits and Ministerial meetings. She is also in charge of all speeches and publications by the NATO Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General. Ms Lungescu is the first woman – and the first journalist – to hold this post.

Ms Lungescu joined NATO after a long journalistic career with the BBC World Service, where she covered EU and NATO affairs for radio, television and online in several languages. Born in Romania, she joined the BBC's Romanian Service in London in 1985 and subsequently became deputy head and then editor. In 1997, she was appointed European affairs correspondent in Brussels, where she covered practically every EU and NATO summit. Between 2009-2010 she reported on European affairs from Berlin.

In 1999, she travelled to Chile and Argentina to report on the aftermath of military dictatorships as the recipient of an Onassis Bursary. In 2002, she was the recipient of a European Woman of Achievement Award. In 2010, she received a jury´s commendation in 2010 UACES – Thompson Reuters Reporting Europe awards for her documentary series “State Secrets” – about secret police archives and her own Securitate file. She contributed to "Child of Europe: An Anthology of New East European Poetry" (Penguin International Poets, 1991) and to "More From Our Own Correspondent" (Barnes&Noble, 2009).

Oana Lungescu holds a Master’s Degree in English and Spanish Studies from the University of Bucharest.